Friday, December 18, 2020

The Return of the Exorcist, Possession Italian Style

I bet you didn't know that the Italians, in the form of Giallo, ripped off "The Exorcist." Yep. Two guarantees...it's really bad, and it's really good! I can also guarantee you this Italian film is infinitely better than the Richard Burton/Linda Blair sequel. With lines like, "I spit on you and all your mumbo jumbo..." you know we have a winner in 1975's "The Return of the Exorcist," directed by Luca Damiano and Angelo Panaccio. Unlike the William Friedkin classic, there will be a lot of nubile Euro-babes beset in evil orgies in this Giallo entry.

Piero (Jean-Claude Verne) is a young hunk who has a chance encounter with a succubus (Mimma Biscardi). She is sent by a Satanic cult to possess him and she does. This won't be a good harbinger for his friends and family. Now Piero is seduced by this naked beauty and a satanic charm is burned into his chest. The first casualty of this succubus is the nubile Sherry (Sonia Viviani), Piero's girlfriend. She will have her throat cut at the disco while Piero and the seductress have pre-marital sex...coincidence? Piero's sultry mother (Francoise Prevost) will get into a knock-down drag out cat-fight with the naked demon. The old adage holds true here, "When you wrestle with a succubus...you both get dirty...but the succubus likes it..." 

Piero's only hope is his hot sister, Elena (Patrizia Gori). Uh oh...she's a nun. Back from Africa she tries to save her brother. Now the succubus seduces her and de-virginizes her. Victimized by the seductress, Elena calls in help and an exorcist (Richard Conte) is summoned. He is a boring chap who obviously took lessons from Max von Sydow. As our succubus keeps dragging Piero and Elena into deviant satanic orgies, our exorcist sticks by the playbook. Beds will levitate, the possessed will upchuck, and nubile nuns will be soiled.

Will Elena's rape at the hands of the succubus result in the planting of a demon seed? Will anyone fly through the window and down the cement staircase in this film? Is this film a metaphor for the increasing death grip socialism has on western Europe? Have some fun and see the Giallo version of "The Exorcist." Perhaps this is cinematic sacrilege but be sure to watch "The Return of the Exorcist." 

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